1. Aquatic Ecosystems

2. Two Key factors in determining
what organisms can live in
certain aquatic ecosystems:
• Dissolved Oxygen (DO) Levels
• Water Temperature
– Cold water has more dissolved oxygen than
warm water
– DO levels are related to water temperature
– Who needs oxygen?
• All the marine animals…yes, fish need oxygen
too!!!

3. What type of Freshwater
ecosystem are these?

4. Flowing Water

5. Streams and Rivers
• Organisms are adapted to seasonal changes in water level and rate of flow
• Rivers change from source point to end point (where they empty out,
usually ocean)
– Source: usually cold (water is from springs), low in nutrients and clear
• shallow and narrow
• few phytoplankton
• major producers are algae on rocks in river bed
• Arthropods in benthic zone that feed on algae and leaves
• Common fish is trout
– Downstream from source
• Wider and deeper
• Marshes and other wetlands
• Warmer and murkier water
• Phytoplankton
• Frogs, catfish, insect larvae

6. Organisms adapt

7. What type of fresh water
ecosystem is this?

8. Standing Water Ecosystem

9. Ponds and Lakes
• Water bodies with very little dissolved salt
• Standing water
• Photic zone: surface of water
– Phytoplankton and water plants that use
photosynthesis
• Aphotic zone: no light/little light
– Light levels too low to support photosynthesis
– Benthic zone
• Rock, sand, sediment
• Floor

10. Plankton
• Phytoplankton
– Unicellular
algae
– cyanobacteria
• Zooplankton
– Planktonic
animals that
feed on
phytoplankton

11. Name this marine ecosystem…

12. Fresh water Wetlands

13. Wetlands
• Aquatic ecosystem where water covers
the soil or is present near the surface
of soil for at least part of the year
• Water may be flowing or standing,
salty, or brackish
• Very productive ecosystem
• Four types

14. Small depressions where water collects
Lots of mosses
Bogs

15. Marsh

16. Marsh
Shallow wetlands along
rivers
Grass-like plants in water
Looks like river of grass

17. Swamp

18. Swamp
Water is slowly
flowing through these
wetlands
Looks like a flooded
forest

19. Name this ecosystem
(hint: unique to Florida)

21. •Covers much of south
florida
•Unique
•Water from Lake Everglades
Okeechobee flows to the
Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic
•Wet season (May to
October)
•Dry season (November to
April)
•Unique Wildlife
•Endangered species

22. Estuary
•Wetlands where rivers meet ocean
•Mix of fresh and salt water (brackish)
•Affected by rise and fall of ocean tides
•Many are shallow
•Photosynthesis plays a major role even
in benthic zone
•Primary producers are plants and
bacteria, who use both photosynthesis
and chemosynthesis
•Estuary food webs differ from other
ecosystems because primary production
is not consumed by herbivores
•Most organic material enters food web
as detritus
•Detritus: made of tiny pieces of
organic material that provide food
for organisms at the base of the
estuary food web
•Clams, worms, and sponges feed
on this
•Support large biomass
•Fewer species than fresh water
ecosystems
•2 types

23. Salt Marsh
Salt tolerant plants above low tide line
Sea grasses underwater
Found along eastern North America
(Maine to Georgia)
Chesapeake Bay in Maryland

24. Coastal estuaries found in
tropical regions
Hawaii and Florida
Salt tolerant trees
(mangroves)
Sea grasses
Prevalent in Everglades
Mangrove Swamp

25. Marine Ecosystems

26. Zones of Marine ecosystems
• 2 Main Divisions Based on Light
– Photic
• 200 m
• photosynthesis
– Aphotic
• Permanent darkness
• chemosynthesis
• Depth/Distance Divisions
– Intertidal Zone
• Rocky
• zonation
– Coastal Ocean (neritic zone)
• Low tide mark to outer edge of
continental shelf
– Open Ocean (pelagic zone)
• Edge of continental shelf and outward
• 500m to 11000m
• Largest division
– Benthic Zone
• Ocean floor
• Attached organisms…

29. Name this Marine Ecosystem

30. Intertidal Zone

31. ZONATION
prominent horizontal banding of organisms in particular
habitat

33. Coastal ocean (Neritic)

34. Kelp Forests
• Pacific Ocean
• Cold, nutrient rich water
• Support many organisms
• Grow up to 50 feet tall!

35. Open Ocean Ecosystem (largest)
(Oceanic/Pelagic)
• Phytoplankton drifting in photic layer
• Zooplankton-feed off phytoplankton
• Whales, squid, dolphins

37. Benthic Zone

39. Hydrothermal Vents
• Depth of 2,500 meters
• Spots on the ocean floor where hot
gases and minerals spew out of
Earth’s crust from its interior
• No sunlight (aphotic)
• Producers are prokaryotes that use
chemosynthesis to make hydrogen
and sulfur containing compounds
into carbohydrates they can use
• Tube worms (up to 3m long!) and
clams feed on these prokaryotes

43. Coral Reefs

44. Coral Reefs
• Biologically diverse
• Equivalent to the tropical rainforest but the watery version
• All invertebrates are found here
– Sponges, sea anemones, worms, star fish, mollusks, sea urchins
• Vertebrates also roam the reefs
– Sea turtles and tropical fish
• Reefs are formed from colonies of coral polyps
– Animals in the Phylum Cnidarian (Jellyfish phylum)
• These organisms secrete hard exoskeletons
made of calcium bicarbonate that make up the
hard, stone like base of the reef
• This is the home to many coral polyps, sponges
and algae
• Coral polyps use photosynthesis During the day
to make their own food
• Coral polyps also have stinging tentacles to help
them capture zooplankton

47. Zones of Marine ecosystems
• 2 Main Divisions Based on Light
– Photic
• 200 m
• photosynthesis
– Aphotic
• Permanent darkness
• chemosynthesis
• Depth/Distance Divisions
– Intertidal Zone
• Rocky
• zonation
– Coastal Ocean/neritic
• Low tide mark to outer edge of
continental shelf
– Open Ocean/pelagic
• Edge of continental shelf and outward
• 500m to 11000m
• Largest division
– Benthic Zone
• Ocean floor
• Attached organisms…